A known electrical connector, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,952,161, comprises, a card connector having card guide grooves for guiding a card. The card contains an electronic memory which can be accessed electronically by plugging the card into electrical contacts in the electrical connector.
The electrical contacts are spaced apart from one another to isolate one contact from another, and to prevent electrical inductance and capacitance influences among the contacts. When spacing between the contacts is inadequate to avoid electrical influences among the contacts, it would be desirable to couple the contacts with a ground referencing plane. One reason to do so is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,727, to Douglas W. Glover and Richard F. Granitz, wherein, a conductive plate is positioned along a row of signal conductors in a connector to provide a low impedance return path referenced to ground electrical potential. In providing a conductive ground referencing plane in a connector for a card reader, it is desired that the connector retain a capacity to connect with cards which are already in widespread use, and also have the capacity to connect with new, improved cards that require the connector to have an increased ground to signal ratio.